Review of Following (1999) by Joao Manuel S — 04 Aug 2011

A young and unemployed writer decides to follow random people in order to study them and gather material for his characters. At one point he is confronted by one of his subjects, Mr Cobb, a serial burglar who breaks into people's homes just for the pleasure of messing with other people's possessions. Amazed by Cobb's lifestyle the young man decides to do the same and eventually he gets involved with one of his own victims, a woman only known as The Blonde. The more he gets involved with Cobb and The Blonde, the more his world will change.

The first aspect that seems almost evident is that Following is a neo-noir film and therefore shares conventions and iconography with classic noir. We have a lone hero, a deadly femme fatale, the black and white cinematography, the expressionistic lighting. The story is engaging with some memorable dialogue sequences, in particular in the interaction between Mr Cobb and the young man. The actors do a brilliant job and this is particularly surprising because with the exception of Lucy Russell they are not professional actors. Alex Haw does a very convincing Mr Cobb with charisma and personality, Jeremy Theobald adds character to the young man and Lucy Russell also convinces as a sometimes naïve, other times dangerous femme fatale. But the greatest strength in Following is plot and narrative. The story is logical and at the same time the events that happen are unexpected throughout the film. The narrative, despite being fragmented, never seems to be random and confusing.

Nevertheless, Following is not flawless by any means, the cinematography for example is not brilliant even though understandable under the necessity of using grainy 16mm film stock. On the other hand, the constraints on the budget made it also impossible to work with professional lighting but under the circumstances, the result is very polished and most importantly for the first time, Christopher Nolan shows some of the themes, techniques and characteristics that allowed him to became the most exciting filmmaker in Hollywood today. Firstly, we can clearly see that story, plot and narrative are more important than any other trait. Secondly, Christopher Nolan is a master manipulator and uses his creativity in order to guide us to certain conclusions to completely surprise us with a completely different outcome. This is particularly evident in his use of the non-linear narrative present in Following and in Nolan's subsequent film Memento. The fragmented narrative never seems like a gimmick but helps us to share the same state of disorientation and confusion as the main character and to immerse ourselves in this jigsaw full of plot twists. Finally, we can clearly see the influence that film noir style and some of its conventions had on him, and that influence would be constant throughout his career, in particular In Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige and The Dark Knight.

Following is a highly recommended film not only for Christopher Nolan fans but for everyone who rates plot and narrative over any other characteristic in film.